STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A jury has convicted a Mariners Harbor man of misdemeanor reckless endangerment and other charges stemming from an incident last year in which prosecutors said he barreled along the Staten Island Expressway at 100 mph and later slugged a cop who tried to arrest him.

The panel, however, acquitted Ahousi Imoukhuede, 55, of a more serious felony count of reckless endangerment stemming from the Feb. 2, 2009, episode.

The defendant potentially faces up to a year behind bars when state Supreme Court Justice Robert J. Collini sentences him on Aug. 18.

The incident was set in motion around 9:45 a.m.

According to a law-enforcement source, a Highway Patrol officer in an unmarked car flagged down Imoukhuede for illegally driving in the Brooklyn-bound HOV lane.

The defendant pulled over, then peeled out as the cop approached his vehicle on foot.

The officer chased in his car and Imoukhuede pulled over again, before fleeing a second time.

Imoukhuede wove through traffic at nearly 100 mph, forcing other motorists to swerve out of his way, the source said. The posted speed limit is 50 mph, said court papers.

An eyewitness eventually boxed in the defendant, who exited the highway at Lily Pond Avenue in Arrochar.

When the cop tried to arrest him, Imoukhuede punched him in the face before being subdued, authorities said.

Jurors yesterday acquitted Imoukhuede of the top count, first-degree reckless endangerment, which carries a maximum penalty of two and one-third to seven years in prison.

He was convicted of misdemeanor counts of second-degree reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and unlawful fleeing a police officer in a vehicle, said a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

Imoukhuede’s Manhattan-based lawyer, Michael H. Handwerker, said today his client had peeled out because he didn’t realize the unmarked car was a police vehicle.

"I think Mr. Imoukhuede was forced to drive in the manner he did because he feared for his life," said the lawyer, adding the cop was ‘tailgating’ his client at 80 mph. "This is a non-violent person."

Handwerker said he was "thrilled" jurors had acquitted the defendant of the top count, but was "disappointed" with the rest of the verdict.